Inc. February 2006

“Most people in and around the government are beholden to Corporate America and don't pay attention to (let alone understand) the needs of entrepreneurs. Here's a list of Beltway movers and shakers who are trying to change that.”

William “Chip” MellorCo-founder, Institute for Justice

“The Institute for Justice specializes in civil liberties, property rights, and regulatory issues. A libertarian, nonprofit law firm, it has consistently and successfully represented small-business owners and entrepreneurs—by, for example, taking on licensing laws that hinder businesses from competing in established markets. The firm doesn’t charge for its work, which means it’s priced right for folks like Las Vegas limo drivers and Oklahoma casket makers, two examples of happy former clients. Though Mellor worked in the Reagan White House, the firm distances itself from either political party and takes on big-business friends of the GOP as readily as it goes after affirmative-action regulations. ‘IJ are some of the very few who fight against these arrangements between politicians and favored business groups,’ says Thomas Firey, managing editor of the Cato Institute’s journal Regulation.”